A sex offender has been jailed after he spied on a young girl as she got changed on a beach in East Devon.

Pensioner Graham Parkinson was found with a series of photographs which he took of a family with two children on Seaton beach during last year’s August bank holiday.

Police also found more than 1,300 child abuse images or videos on his phone or computer including 464 which showed child rape or serious abuse, sometimes of babies or toddlers.

His collection included more than 100 artificially created images which he had downloaded from the internet over a period of months.

Parkinson completed a sex offenders’ treatment course after being caught for identical offences in 2015 and has a total of 26 previous convictions. He was on the sex offenders’ register and subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO).

He was caught because his police offender manager carried out routine checks. He admitted having a compulsion to seek out child images which he could not overcome.

Parkinson, aged 71, of Lower North Street, Exeter, admitted six counts of making, by downloading, indecent images of children and was jailed for 20 months by Judge Stephen Climie at Exeter Crown Court.

He was put on the sex offenders register and made subject of a new SHPO, both of which will last a further ten years.

The judge told him: “You reverted to your old ways, and not to a limited extent. There were close to 1,500 images and a very large number in category A.

“There were images of children under five being brutalized and raped and showing them in significant distress. That is an aggravating factor, as are your previous convictions.”

Mr Herc Ashworth, prosecuting, said two batches of material were found by police in September last year. There were 129 computer generated images, of which 52 were in the worst category A and 1.370 images or videos.

These included 92 movies and 324 still images at category A.

Mr Ashworth said: “A laptop in his bedroom contained several search terms and the internet history showed he had searched for ‘rape of babies’.

“The majority of the children were aged three to ten and some depicted abuse and degradation of very young children who were visibly distressed.

“A phone memory card linked to the camera contained five images taken on Seaton seafront which showed a family with two children, one male one female, she being aged about six to eight. One image showed her getting changed.”

Miss Pamela Calder, defending, said Parkinson has sought help from his church for his compulsion and believes he needs help to overcome an addiction to these images.

She said it is some time since he was last sent on a sex offenders’ course and would benefit from doing this type of work as an alternative to prison.

She said: “He realises he has a compulsion that is beyond his control. Like any addiction, he finds it very difficult to control without help.”